Work Truck Magazine, December 2018

10 WORK TRUCK DECEMBER 2018 Regardless of the type of industry a company works in the accident count continues to rise This is especially true in the delivery service segment where the pressures for on time delivery create havoc for the fleet manager the logistics manager and ultimately the driver said Bob Martines CEO founder of Corporate Claims Management CCM However Martines noted the increase has been moderated slightly with training and vehicle technology enhancements Particularly the medium duty truck accident rate increased year over year We believe the biggest factor in that increase was that medium duty vehicles were driven more miles year over year said Sara Sweeney senior product manager for Wheels Another factor impacting the increase in medium duty truck accidents from 2017 to 2018 is an increase in the sizes of many medium duty commercial fleets This increase in size results in an increase in miles driven which are contributing factors to additional incidents said Dan Shive VP business development accident and safety products for Donlen One final factor to consider is the cost per incident From a physical damage loss perspective the severity of medium duty truck accidents has been costlier than that of light duty trucks but only by a few hundred dollars said Connie Brinkmann assistant vice president of risk management for Enterprise Fleet Management IMPACT ON ACCIDENT RATES Overall safety awareness continues to increase year over year as fleets do whatever they can to reduce preventable accidents These efforts include safety training an increased use of telematics predictive modeling tools real time monitoring and enhanced collision avoidance technology Additionally the use of in cab and forward facing video provides information to help drivers understand how to improve and reduce the likelihood of a collision from mobile phone use eating and multitasking to following too close speeding and running stop signs stop lights said Michelle Lewis manager accident management services for Emkay Telematics is continuing to have a positive effect on driver behavior Vocational fleets with medium and heavy duty trucks were among the early adopters of telematics technology Today the programs are a little more mature impacting their approach to safety and how driver behavior is managed Based on our data the instances of fast acceleration harsh braking and speeding were down this year particularly among the medium duty segment This trend may foreshadow future accident AT A GLANCE Accident rates have continued an overall steady rise with technology becoming more a focus point to decrease incidents including u Backup cameras and sensors u Blind spot monitoring systems u Telematics solutions Accidents Continue to Rise in 2018 The consensus from industry subject matter experts is that accident rates for larger trucks continued to rise in 2018 while light duty incidents remained relatively steady year over year OVERALL ACCIDENT RATES ARE CONTINUING A STEADY RISE WITH MANY LEANING TOWARD TECHNOLOGY IN THE HOPE OF REDUCING RATES By Lauren Fletcher PHOTO GETTY IMAGES

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